domestic matters. when you went to vote, you had a choice. you could look at the candidates and think who is the best. not like today where one political party holds views so out there that many don't feel they have any real choice when they get out into the voting booth. we'll see. it's an historic decision. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "the ed show" starts right now. good evening, americans. welcome to "the ed show" from new york. republicans say they are laughing at president obama's fiscal cliff offer. i'll show you how they are really crying. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >> there are no shortage of pens in the white house. and i carry one around for emergency just in case. just waiting for the chance to use it to sign the bill to make sure people's taxes don't go up. >> the adult in the room continues his campaign to cut

taxes for the middle class and john boehner keeps shooting spit balls. the latest on the stalemate and the democrat's upper hand. mitch mcconnell gets ridiculous with his demands to weaken medicare. one of the architects of obama care responds tonight. house republicans pass an immigration. bill democrats say is divisive and inferior. tonight, congressman javier pasara on why the latino community won't. be fooled. the first fast food strike is historic. what you need to know about the lowest-paid workforce in the country. good to have you with us. thanks for watching. president obama knows his opponent is on the ropes and he's not letting up. the president took his tax plan agenda on the road today. he e went to a pennsylvania toy factory to focus on the people

who will be hurt if the tax rate extensions are not passed for the 98% of americans. >> if congress does nothing, every family in america will see their income taxes automatically go up on january 1st. every family, everybody here. your taxes will go up on january 1st. i'm assuming that doesn't sound too good to you. that's like the lump of coal you get for christmas. that's a scrooge christmas. >> president obama has been consistent in his message and demeanor. the republicans look more unreasonable each passing day. >> if we can just get a few house republicans on board, we can pass the bill in the house, it will land on my desk. i have a bunch of pens ready to sign this bill. >> while the president was

turning up the public pressure on the road, nancy pelosi plaid a card of her own. she gave republicans until next tuesday to vote on tax cuts for the middle class. >> if the bill, if there's no announcement of scheduling of the middle income tax cut, which by the way has tremendous support in the republican caucus, i think we would get 100% vote on it if it came to the floor. if it is not scheduled, then on tuesday we will be introducing a discharge petition, which you know if we get 208 signatures would bring the bill automatically to the floor. >> this is getting good. a discharge petition is a way to bring the bill to the floor for consideration without house leadership. circumventing john boehner. feingold was kick started by a discharge petition. gun legislation has also been passed thanks to discharge

petitions. pelosi found a way to get republicans on the record whether they like it or not. next week they will have to take a stand. it's no wonder republicans are freak out. >> this is not a game. we're not interested in playing. we're interested in trying to solve the problem for the american people so that we don't see taxes go up on anybody, so we can engage in tax reform and get the economy going again. we're being serious that offer yesterday was simply not serious. >> cantor was speak iing antd t deal presented by treasury secretary timothy geithner. today the white house released details about that deal. in spite of republican claims of $400 billion in cuts, the deal proposed $600 billion in cuts. $350 billion in medicare savings and $350 billion to other programings next year. john boehner basically lied yesterday when he said the white house had not offered specifics.

today he complained about those specifics. >> the white house spent three weeks trying to develop a proposal and they send one up here that calls for $1.6 trillion in new taxes, calls for a little -- not even $400 billion in cuts and they want to have this extra spending that's actually greater than the amount they are willing to cut. i mean, it's -- it was not a serious proposal. and so right now, we're almost nowhere. . >> boehner offered the republican counter to the white house plan. >> our original framework still stands. instead of raising tax rates, we can produce a similar amount of revenue reforming the tax code to close loopholes and lower tax rates. >> no, no, no. republicans are not getting the mitt romney tax proposal. time to move on speaker boehner. republicans are furious about

the white house proposal. mitch mcconnell told the weekly standard he burst into laughter when he received the deal. the new second ranking republican in the senate john cornyn also disparaged the deal. >> that's a crazy idea. i'm amazed that secretary geithner had the courage to float that yesterday. hence the laughter from senator mcconnell. that's the kind of response it deserves. >> they are laughing in public, but they are panicking behind closed doors. conservative writer matt lewis, writer for "the daily caller", the notion that republicans have leverage is silly. it's the same kind of happy thinking that led to some boldly-predicting a romney victory. he said republicans are so screwed. this is why president obama is playing to his strengths. the president has never had a problem rallying the american people to his side. >> understand this was a central question in the election.

maybe thee central question in the election. we talked about this a lot. >> republicans are furious because they can't control this conversation. americans know where they stand on tax fairness and republicans are on the losing end. it's been a rough week. get your cell phones out. tonight's question, who has the upper hand in the fiscal cliff negotiations at this point? text a for president obama and b for the republicans to 622639. you can go to our blog and leave a comment. we encourage you to do that. i'm joined tonight by sam stein, political reporter for "the huffington post." don't you dare give me a hard time about the packers. who is winning the conversation with the american people? what kind of week was it on the hill? >> you can say the president is winning this conversation at this junction. these things change. a lot of this is posture. when you look at the circumstances that play here, it

seems clear to me that democrats would be more comfortable going over the fiscal cliff. you have republicans not just sort of modern republicans, but real conservative republicans saying we got to do what the president wants to do on taxes and debate the other issues later down the road. i don't see democrats doing something of similar hair si on their side. the president controls the game. >> why are the republicans disz i dising a $600 billion cut? why do they say that's not a credible proposal? >> it's laughable, in some respec respects, that they think the administration would come at them with something in the middle ground. that's what they did with the stimulus. they said from the get go, we're going to give republicans what they want.

we expect them to meet in the middle. republicans are going to do the same thing. this is not a serious proposal. along the way, they are going to meet. it's going to be a proposal that doesn't have a trillion dollars in tax rates. >> some conservatives are encouraging republicans to go off the cliff. >> they obviously expect republicans will cave on everything. i think republicans ought to simply walk away. >> limbaugh said the same thing as well. is this political suicide for republicans? who would really pay the political price before the state of the union and on into the spring if they don't have a deal? >> republicans. i think matt lewis and his column got it right. they would pay the price. what they are saying is because we want to protect -- and it's more complex than this. but it would be framed as we want to protect the tax rates for the top 2%. we're willing to go off the cliff for that. i don't think there's a way you can spin it effectively enough that you end up winning the

public relations war. that's why you're going to get some form of deal before the cliff is hit. it might not encompass all this stuff, but they will come to the table. >> the discharge petition, nancy pelosi is going to be taking a petition around to every house member and saying, are you with us or not on this? this is theater right here. >> sure. >> will she get the signatures? >> that's a great question. we'll see. but this is part of a broader effort by democrats. the reason they put out that offer to boehner, the timothy geithner offer -- >> do they have the votes? >> no. they want republic republicans to come with their own offer. they want them to detail what they will cut. the same is holding true with pelosi si. they want to see them record a yes or no so they have to pay some sort of political price for their position. they are avoiding getting into the details. >> the culture of this, you get a couple signatures and then it starts to steam roll.

the media is on it it. >> what happened with the payroll tax cut. you remember this last year. republicans were like, we only want a two-month extension. suddenly it snowballed and you had a mess on your hands. john boehner had to say this is a tragedy for us if we continue. >> your prediction is she won't get the 218? >> i'm not going to go on a limb yet. >> wouldn't it be something if she did? >> of course. it would resolve a huge chunk of this issue. the senate is sitting there and they have passed a tax cut extension program that the obama administration wants. it would essentially lay the groundwork for a quick fix to this fiscal cliff. >> sam stein, "huffington post," good to have you with us. >> go giants. >> stop that. >> had to do that. >> remember to answer tonight's question at the bottom of the screen. share your thoughts on twitter @edshow and on facebook. coming up, mitch mcconnell

saying raising limits. we're talking about what will happen if the parties don't come to a deal.

a record number of filibusters. john boehner is fighting to keep it that way. we'll tell you what that's about. fast food workers stage the largest strike in their history. we'll show you what they hope to accomplish here in the big apple. and later the white house releases the first beau obama christmas video. it's much better than the old barney camp videos and we have the tape to prove us. share your thoughts on facebook

and twitter. we're coming right back. of ta. it's changing the conversation. ♪ or that printing in color had to cost a fortune. nobody said an all-in-one had to be bulky. or that you had to print from your desk. at least, nobody said it to us. introducing the business smart inkjet all-in-one series from brother. easy to use. it's the ultimate combination of speed, small size, and low-cost printing.

welcome back to "the ed show." thanks for watching tonight. republicans want democrats to do their dirty work when it comes to medicare. we know president obama offered $400 billion in cuts to medicare and other entitlement programs over the next ten years. here's andrea mitchell trying to get an answer from jason shabbets on where he has a problem with it. >> is your problem that it's not specified? or do you have to produce a

laundry list before he comes up with his? >> that's what's unfortunate. speaker boehner is on the right track. i think he's shown a willingness to talk about things that we haven't been able to talk about before. they need to sit down and hash this out. >> isn't that interesting. republicans won't answer the direct question because these aren't the kinds of cuts they are looking for. if an interview, mitch mcconnell offered his wish list. higher medicare premiums for the wealthy americans and an increase in the medicare eligibility age. he wants to slow the cost of living increases on social security. social security is off the table. on medicare, though, one part of the president's savings would come from increasing premiums to the wealthiest americans so there might be some agreement there. but raising the eligibility age for medicare recipients is an absolute nonstarter.

the idea is unpopular and it's also inefficient because it increases the cost to seniors without creating much savings to the government at all. here's the bottom line in all of this. house republicans have voted for paul ryan's budget twice. which turns medicare into a voucher program. that's really what they want to do. if they had the power, that's where they would go. the idea is deeply unpopular with the american people in polls. and that has been shown time and time again e. republicans want these kinds of cuts, but they would rather pin it on president obama than to take the blame. i say bring it on. it does pencil out. let's turn to dr. zeke emanuel, chair of medical ethics and health policy at university of pennsylvania and one of the architects of the affordable care act, which is now obama

care. thank you for being with us tonight. sort this out for us. the $400 billion on the table with obama care or with medicare that the republicans deny cuts. who is telling the truth here? >> well, the real issue is whether you're cutting things to beneficiaries or using those cuts to really transform the system to make it more modern. and i think as they did in the campaign, they are trying to say this will harm beneficiaries. but you can make cuts without harming beneficiaries. we released a report where we had $385 million in cuts to medicare and without taking it out of beneficiaries. . >> so this is a valid proposal of savings of $400 billion, but republicans deny that. >> the president has put on a bold proposal. the important thing i would say is, there's one way of cutting. you just whack the system. take money out. make what you pay the doctors or hospitals less.

but the real interesting and important thing is to try to transform the system going forward so that we're not spending increases well beyond inflation or the growth in gdp. that's going to be the key. >> so part of the transformation here would be to allow medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices the same as veteran programs? >> that's one possibility. there's various ways to bring drug prices down. >> what would it do? how much money? >> i'm not exactly sure what you could get, but we know, for example, there's over $100 billion by getting payment for drugs from medicare beneficiaries who are e eligible for beneficiaries eligible for medicaid instead of the part d program. >> dr. emanuel, what happens if we don't have an agreement in washington and we go off the fiscal cliff? what happens to medicare? what happens to the beneficiaries? >> well, we're going to have a very big whack at the system.

the important point is it's not going to be strategic. that's not a very good thing. it's not just medicare benef beneficiaries. in the sequestration, lots of other programs get hit. so you've got to be very careful, here, plus the republicans constantly say we don't want to become like greece. what's driving off the fiscal cliff look like? it makes us look completely irresponsible as if we can't control our own spending and put in order some priorities. >> so some health care will be suffering? >> that's absolutely true. we want to incentive doctors ask hospitals to keep people well. not to just do procedures. and that's the key to really transforming medicare. >> i want to show you a map of the states that are refusing to implement the insurance exchanges. it's rather interesting. the other states are either

implementing the exchanges or haven't decided to do that. if states don't decide to do it and the federal government comes in and sets up the exchange, isn't that kind of a win for the move towards universal health care because the infrastructure will be there? >> i think it provides people an option whether governors are refusing or not. that's the most important thing so they can get access to insurance products. also i think, you know, it takes away the claim that the federal government is u surping health care. states forfeited their option to do something. i also think we're going to have an interesting set of experiments. california, colorado, maryland and other states that are going to do this well will show the country. can you save money? can you improve health outcomes? can you give people options they like? i would look to those particular states because they are really working on developing an

exchange, running it well, the case of colorado interestingly enough, it's pretty bipartisan. you have people who want to make it work on both sides of the aisle. these could shame other states to come in. i also think we should be honest. out of 2014, there may be some bumps in the road. but this is for the long haul. out of the gate, it may not be perfect. but lots of software is not perfect out of gate, but we use it and love it and it helps us. the same is going to be true here. it's going to help millions of people get better insurance products that are cheaper. >> thanks for coming in. coming up, some senate democrat cans are trying to change the filibuster rule and house speaker john boehner issues a threat. republicans make their first post election attempt at immigration reform. and just what did they do? they voted to limit legal

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senate republicans, what have they done? they have repeatedly abused the filibuster to block common sense legislation that most americans, the majority of americans have wanted. for example, senate republicans filibustered the 9/11 health care act. it would have provided over $7

billion in health care funds to 9/11 first responders. a watered-down version of the bill eventually passed. republicans hid behind the first responders for years. they used these heroic americans to start a war of choice in iraq. then when they got sick from hazardous working conditions, senate republicans used the filibuster to deny them the proper funds they need. republicans also filibustered the veterans jobs act. it would have provided $1 billion to help create over 20,000 jobs for veterans returning home from war. these brave americans, while they were sent to iraq and afghanistan and put their lives on the line every day to serve our country, then when they came home they needed help. republicans used the filibuster to say, no way. can't do it. and republicans filibustered the bring jobs home act. the thing about outsourcing, the act would have created a 20% tax break for moving jobs back to the united states.

and it would have penalized companies for shipping jobs overseas. republicans filibustered legislation that would have created jobs and helped the middle class. this one even included a tax break. they still said no. remember, these are just three of 386 filibusters that the republicans have used to stop the obama agenda dead in its tracks. time and time again, republicans abuse this rule to hurt america's progress. senate democrats basically are sick of it and they want to change this filibuster rule. harry reid wants the following changes. senators can't filibuster a debate. he wants a shorter time to break a filibuster. and he wants senators to speak out about their filibuster in public. these are not drastic changes. this isn't going to roll the senate over. the filibuster would still be a tool. but house speaker john boehner is now involved. he issued this threat.

any bill that reaches a republican-led house based on senate democrats' heavy-handed power play would be dead on arrival. isn't it amazing how they get along? this proves that boehner's do-nothing congress isn't concerned about moving the country forward. he will hold -- he will hold the american people hostage in a legislative process to just block everything he possibly can. to stop president obama's agenda, is that what america wants? i don't think so. let's bring in john nichols, washington correspondent. good to have you with us tonight. there seems to be more and more conversation about this. let me play devil's advocate. why do this? why not let the republicans continue to filibuster and let them politically hang themselves in the midterms? why do the democrats want to do this? >> well if the theory was that

you could let them hang themselves, then they would have already hung themselves many times over. the filibuster is not front-page news. it's a procedure within the senate. the republicans have abused it now ever since democrats took control of the senate. the concern here is not to get rid of the filibuster. that's the important thing to understand. what harry reid and some of the younger senators are proposing is to restore the filibuster. it's a very simple proposal. they it want to bring back the filibuster as it existed in mr. smith goes to washington. they want it it to be like jimmy stewart where they had to go to the floor and stand on your principl principles. now, unfortunately, the filibuster is used secretly behind closed doors to stop debate to prevent us from even having a vote. that has nothing to do with what americans understand as a

filibuster and there's no reason to allow the abuses to continue. >> well, it means that if they were to filibuster, they have to go to the floor and do as you say, mr. smith goes to washington, and talk endlessly until some conclusion. what do the changes mean for democratic bills, do you think? >> it could mean a lot. many of the bills that democrats have proposed have majority support. they can win in the senate. the problem is they can't get to the 60 votes that would required to break a filibuster or to force a vote. and so all that's being proposed here is to say, look, if you want to do a filibuster, you have to be public about it, you have to go to the floor, you have to speak openly about why you don't want to vote to occur. if you can convince a majority of senators to block it, you win. it's just majority rules. >> what do you make of john boehner's threat of anything that comes to his side is going

to be dead on arrival? you think this is going to affect anybody's decision-making process now when they are talking about doing this in the senate? >> i certainly hope not. john boehner ought to worry about his own chamber. we're supposed to have separation of powers. the house does its rules and the senate does theirs. he ought to keep his nose where it belongs. secondly, he's talking about punishing the american people because of a rule change in the senate that would occur after the fiscal cliff deadline. the senate will organize itself at the start of the new year. so boehner's making threats that really have very, very little to do with reality. unfortunately, that seems like a lot of his approaches to this whole fiscal cliff debate. >> john nichols, great to have you with us. there's a lot more coming up in the next half hour of "the ed show." stay with us. we are a country of

unlimited opportunity. we want the world's best and brightest to come here. >> house republicans pass an immigration bill. xavier becerra calls divisive and inferior. he's here to explain why, next. the nation's first fast food strike is a historic protest for workers rights. the workers are fighting back and we'll tell you what it's all about. and the white house debuts their first beau obama christmas video. but how does it stack up to b barney cam? >> you're going to have to learn about the national parks if you want to be a junior park ranger. of washington about the future of medicare and social security. anncr: but you deserve straight talk about the options on the... table and what they mean for you and your family. ancr: aarp is cutting through all the political spin.

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by huge margins. the gop is making their first post-election play at winning some of those voters back. today republicans voted to limit legal immigration to this country and called it immigration reform. the stem jobs act passed in the house earlier 245-139. house republicans tried to pass a version of the bill a few months back and failed. why? because the stem act is a mad bill. the white house has voiced its opposition to it because it doesn't pave a way forward for millions of undocument workers who are already here and pits communities against one another. it would provide green cards pr those skilled in science and technology and math. foreign internationals who have earned degrees from an american university can stay here and use their skills to improve the american workforce. sounds like a great idea, right? sure, but it does so at the expense of other immigrants.

and as "the new york times" points out, it eliminates another visa category entirely. the visas set aside for people from countries with low immigration rates to the united states. so the 55,000 stem visas would come at the expense of 55,000 diversity visas. that's a zero sum gain. the elimination of diversity visas would primary affect immigrants from african countries. but despite the discriminatory nature of the bill, republicans insist it's going to create jobs and they are calling out the democrats opposition to the legislation. >> once again, the house is taking the lead on legislation that is going to help create jo jobs. >> we believe as this was the first step forward in terms of trying to address the need for modernization in our visa laws. >> the democrats had two years to do something about immigration reform.

they had a white house, they had the house, nay had the senate and they did nothing about immigration reform. >> joining us is xavier becerra from california. great to have you with us tonight. you just heard mr. cantor say this is a step forward. do you agree with that? >> only for the tea party, perhaps, because we have a chance to do real sensible immigration reform working together on a bipartisan basis. republicans never reached out to democrats. they knew this was an inferior bill. it pits immigrants against each other. it hurts families who are of african ancestry who want to bring family members the right way from africa and they do it to no real benefit to the american people because america workers might be disadvantaged because there are no protections for american workers to make sure that these newly-authorized green cards for the educated workers, which we do need, that those pay for those folks isn't

undercutting the salaries current workers get. >> so it creates as many problems as they think it solves. is there anything in this legislation that could be salvaged that you could agree with? >> there is a stem bill that we can pass. and what the democrats did today on the house floor is say, look, this is the bipartisan bill we can agree to that doesn't play the zero sum game and doesn't undercut the american workers. the tea party is driving the ship in the house republican conference. until that changes, it will be tough. but there are good folks on the republican side who are interested in trying to do a bipartisan bill. >> it's discriminatory, no question about that. it hurts americans who are here and those who want to come here as well. and what is it about the african-american community in this world that the republicans don't want to allow into this country? >> you know, it's unfortunate

because too often it's tough for a lot of families who have relatives from africa to bring them here. the diversity visa is to try to bring eastern europeans, so they have had a tough time getting the relatives here. you eliminate those 55,000 visa opportunities, it's almost impossible. that's unfortunate. >> is there a little political theater here? they are saying they are getting something done while in the middle of the fiscal cliff fight. blaming the democrats for not doing it previously. >> the worst part about this is, i don't even think the high-tech community believes this is real. they would have been asking us a lot of us to vote for us. they knew it wasn't going to go anywhere. more than that, i think what is becoming clear is the latino community is no longer buying this kind of stuff. >> that's my next question.

>> will this win over anybody in the latino community? the republicans have certainly taken a hit at the polls with that portion of society. >> i can't see how it does. the la ttino community has grow accustomed to see republicans propose things like the arizona law, the proposals to deny children born in this country their citizenship even though they are born in this country. proposals to deny the opportunity to bring your family with you if you do it the right way. it's been tough. republicans, i heard the piece where representative labrador said democrats are two years to do something. we passed the dream act in the u.s. house of representatives. the senate had more than a majority vote. because republicans used the filibuster, we couldn't get the bill to the president for his signature. so democrats have done things. we're ready to do them again. we'll do them bipartisanly. >> great to have you on the show

tonight. thanks so much. coming up, bo obama's christmas video. it's making the rounds. how does it compare to his predecessor's? we'll check the tapes, stay tuned. twins. i didn't see them coming. i have obligations. cute obligations, but obligations. i need to rethink the core of my portfolio. what i really need is sleep. introducing the ishares core, building blocks for the heart of your portfolio. find out why 9 out of 10 large professional investors

choose ishares for their etfs. ishares by blackrock. call 1-800-ishares for a prospectus which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. read and consider it carefully before investing. risk includes possible loss of principal. we always love hearing from our viewers on twitter and facebook. many of you are still mad about texas's conspiracy theory saying president obama took out gadhafi so al qaeda could take over? evelyn says, to think someone like that is representing the people of this country, he needs to go. rick says, republicans should have learned by now you cannot buy and lie your way into the white house. and julia says, every time i think he could not be more ridiculous, he proofs me wrong. share your thoughts on facebook and twitter. still to come, fast food workers

stage the industry's biggest strike. we'll look at what they are fighting for. stay with us, we're right back.

welcome back to "the ed show." the holidays are fast approaching. in the cispirit of the season, e white house released a video of the first dog. bo obama doing his part in the preparations. tis the season. bo was seen padding through the halls expecting the decorations coming face to face with a few bo look alikes. it's a far cry from the blockbuster days of barney bush. >> the president is counting on you. i don't want you pushing that soccer ball around while playing with those balls until everything is done. >> it's really difficult to judge where to hang this wreath. where should i hang this wreath? barney? >> i have to go back to work in

the oval office over here. i've got to job to do and so do you. it's time for you to quit playing and getting exercise and go in and do the job that the chief of staff told you to do. when somebody gives you a job, barney, and you agree to do it, you're supposed to do the job. >> barney? barney? >> barney, it's time for barney cam. are you ready for it this year? what's the plot about? i can see from the look on your face you haven't even thought about the plot. barney, you better get started. you better run along right now. >> i'm in. i'm in. >> you've got to be kidding me. >> well, maybe better luck next year, margaret. i got to rehearse her. >> you better wake up. there's a lot to do around here. we're sprinting to the finish, not napping to the finish. >> that's a cast of characters that didn't have more important

things to do or deal with like a couple wars, a bad economy and bad acting. but barney never seemed to mind. you know what they say, if you want a friend in washington, get a dog. by the way, barney has always been my favorite bush. tonight in our survey, i asked, who has the upper hand in the fiscal cliff negotiations? 98% of you say the president and 2% say the republicans. coming up, a strike could change paychecks across the country. why these workers are so frustrated with fast food. stay with us. ♪

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in the big finish tonight, an industry dominated by working moms just got a serious wake-up call. hundreds of workers walked off their jobs yesterday. this is an unprecedented strike by mostly nonunion workers. their target is the fast food industry. some might think employees are teenage kids flipping burgers making minimum wage. not the case. the median age is 28 years old. 66% of fast food employees are women. on average those women are 4 32 years of age or older. most fast food workers are part-time. managers keep them working under 40 hours per week. most make $18,000 a year.

the workers in new york city are asking for a raise. they want $15 an hour. i can imagine some americans think it's a lot to ask when you're in a recession and millions of people don't even have jobs right now. they took a look at a number of different things across the country. but look at this report. corporate profits just hit a record high. companies are making more money than they have ever made before. the workers are simply asking for a fair deal. >> they are not willing to bargain or willing to sit down and have a contract. >> your co-workers are the ones generating this money for you. $15 isn't a lot. >> we are not being appreciated for the work that we do. they are giving us $7.25. maybe $8. because of that it, most of these people actually have to

rely on food stamps and other government help. >> more and more americans might need to rely on fast food wages. people at sensa da and hostess are looking for jobs. fast food workers are demanding a better deal for everyone. reporter sara jaffe wrote this. "in the form of food stamps, welfare through the tax code and social safety net programs. this is a place for government to intervene and for corporations to sacrifice some of their profits by raising wages to a livable level." sara jaffe joins me tonight. excellent reporting. your analysis is spot on. do you think the strike was effective? >> i think it scared the heck out of the bosses. all the workers went back into work today. they were accompanied by clergy and elected officials.

and all but one were accepted back with no problems. one person, they attempted to fire her, there were about 100 people outside of the store within an hour holding a rally. >> they want to go through what union? >> they are forming an independent union. this was a drive started by "new york communities with change." they do community organizing and they were work on housing issues when they started talking to these workers. i spoke to a woman with three kids supporting on $7.25 an hour from burger king. and they decided to start organizing. they are doing a pretty good job. >> we just had a big discussion in this country about income inequality and the corporate profits are out there. everybody knew they were through the roof before they were reported again today. did this motivate the workers? >> i think everybody knows. the workers at walmart know it. everybody knows that

corporations are doing just fine and the rest of us are getting squeezed. >> what kind of impact could this have nationally? >> imagine fast food workers suddenly getting a raise to $15 an hour. that would be a huge precedent. >> is there any indication that management of these franchises would move forward and do something for these workers? >> i mean there's not an indication, but mcdonald's, the franchise doesn't set their own rules. the company gets to decide all the rules. they could decide to give workers a raise and set a huge example for the rest of the country. >> it was high school kids flipping burgers back in the day. i was really taken by the number of single moms and the age of the workers in this country. you think that is going to have a big impact on whether the companies decide to do something? >> this is the new economy.

factory jobs weren't good jobs either. the reason they became the middle class jobs we know because people organized. >> what's the next move? >> it's a movement. they are not giving up. . they are going to keep working and i spoke to johnathan weston and they are hoping that more workers got energized by seeing this happen and by seeing everybody go back in today and not face reprize sal. >> so the next phase is what? >> i'm hoping for more strikes, ed. >> you're hopining for more strikes? >> yeah. >> did the 98% have anything to do with this? >> it crystallized something already going on in this country that people knew about where the wealth was going. they knew we have seen it go to the people at the top and the people at the bottom were getting squeezed. productivity has gone up, they are working harder and longer. >> there's been no organized union that has gone in and led